This is the first release in the Sinclair series, named after Tobermory Distillery’s founder John Sinclair. It’s a peated spirit matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished in Rioja wine casks.
Appearance: Tizer, rose wine. It is literally orange. Nicely viscous, plenty of thick oily trails, leading back to the surface.
Nose: Even before closing in on the glass for a nose, I can smell the berry sweetness and dark fruits in general.
On a closer nose, the distant sweet smokiness is evident, along with vanilla, mixed nuts and expressed orange peel.
There are also some more earthy qualities to the nose. Drying grass, straw and damp foliage.
Palate: Viscous delivery coats and warms the tongue. Strawberry jam on buttered, slightly burnt toast. A touch drying and a hint of copper, which I get a lot with wine finished peated whisky.
Bitter blood orange, a touch of mint and smoked meats accompany the sweetness.
Behind the plethora of other flavours, there’s a Christmas spiciness: cinnamon, clove and allspice berries.
I’m not sure if I’ve over-acclimatised to peated, but this doesn’t taste ‘heavily peated’ to me. There’s definitely a smokiness, but it’s not ‘heavy’.
Finish: More spiciness appears for the finish. Those Christmas spices in particular, but also a smidgen of white pepper.
The copper note is also still lingering, which I’m not a fan of, as is the mintiness.
Overall: I’m very grateful to NewDramDrinker for generously providing this dram.
It’s not one for me, the copper note and mintiness don’t agree with my palate, unfortunately.
I do like the jam and Christmas spices side of it though.
